I woke up and did my First 5 devotion. And I got up and got ready because I had an appointment to get my hair cut and colored first thing that morning.
While I was getting my hair done, a momma came in with a special needs little girl. There was an older lady in there at the same time. The older lady turned off her hairdryer and walked over to talk to and encourage the little girl. It was very sweet. Then she came back over to me and was telling me that she had two nephews that had special needs and how we may not understand what God is doing, but that he has a plan. Very true. Very true. Then I watched the lady that does my hair get down in the floor with the little girl and play with her for a few minutes while her momma was getting her eyebrows waxed. It was precious. I wanted to talk to her too, but I had color in my hair, and I was afraid that I would scare her (seriously, mid process is not a pretty sight), so I just observed. But it warmed my heart that the little girl was treated almost like royalty, even though she was different. Her difference did not scare or make those around her feel uncomfortable. No, it brought them together in their shared love for her. It was a sweet few moments that we don't get to observe very often anymore.
After I got finished with my appointment, I came home and got busy doing some things for school. I wrote in my prayer journal - I wanted to get a few days done, so the girls will have an example and know what I expect from them when they start theirs. I had to get my grade book ready and do some things like that. All the while texting back an forth with My Prince, to get the flyer done for a women's conference that we are hosting soon.
The Young Prince woke up and I had him wake up the Youngest Princess for me. I helped the Youngest Princess find something to eat. Then went upstairs to get ready to go shopping with My Prince and our youth pastor to buy school supplies and backpacks for our church's Operation Backpack - back to school ministry.
My Prince brought me and the Young Prince some lunch. I ate mine quickly and with a few instructions to the Young Prince and the Youngest Princess, we were off.
We went to the church to pick up the youth pastor and the church van. We went to a local office supply store and loaded up our buggies with all kinds of school supplies. I was also able to pick up a few things that I needed to be completely ready to start my special project - prayer journal - with my class. We were able to buy enough supplies to fill 25 backpacks for children who would not be able to get new supplies otherwise. It was fun to pick out supplies knowing that they would bless the children who will receive them.
We left from there and went to Walmart to buy the backpacks and a few other little things we still needed. I didn't think about the fact that the poor lady checking us out was going to have to check inside each of the backpacks we bought. We bought 25 backpacks. My Prince and the youth pastor realized that she was unzipping each backpack, so they got busy unzipping the rest so that the lady would not have to do it herself, and it helped make the process go a little faster. They would unzip the backpack, she would look inside and then scan the backpack and I would put it in the buggy. We had a little assembly line going, and it worked out great.
In the middle of all of that, the Young Prince got the Youngest Princess to cheer practice for me.
We had planned to go on to another store, but ended up changing our plans, and going back to the church.
The Oldest Princess brought the Youngest Princess home from cheer practice, and then they had to go back to the school for the Oldest Princess to help with volleyball practice.
We went back to the church and unloaded the van. One of our church members saw us and stopped to help us unload it all. It was nice to have an extra set of hands.
We left the church and went straight to the school. I had some things to take to my classroom, and some things I needed to pick up from my classroom, and we had to pick up the Youngest Princess.
When we got there, Poppy was there watching the Young Prince at football practice.
My Prince stayed outside and talked to Poppy and watched practice too.
I went to my classroom to drop my stuff off, and talked to a couple of people who were upstairs for a few minutes. Then I went back down to the gym. My good friend was there talking to another mother whose daughter will be new to our school this year, so I stopped to talk to them. While we were talking another new friend (A) came up and joined us. She had a daughter enrolled in our school last year, but I never had a good chance to get to know her. This year she has enrolled her other three children and I am sure we will have many opportunities to get to know one another better. I had just recently connected some dots to see the big picture, and had read one of her blogs (she's a blogger too!!), and asked her to be my friend on Facebook, so I was glad to have the chance to talk to her and get to know her a little better in real life. Listening to the moms talk about their children and their anxieties about going to a new school reminded me that I need to be praying for our new students and their transition into our school. I also want to remind my children to be as welcoming and as friendly as they can be to the new students to help them feel as comfortable as possible.
I walked outside, and sat with Poppy and My Prince for a few minutes before My Prince said that he was ready to leave. We went back upstairs and found the Youngest Princess who was running around playing with a friend, and then we left to go by the grocery store.
We picked up a few things at the store and came home. My Prince wanted taco salad, and he made spaghetti for the kids. I heated up some grilled pork chops from the other night. The Oldest Princess and the Young Prince came in, and everyone ate dinner. The Young Prince did not want spaghetti or taco salad, so he fixed himself some ramen noodles.
While we were eating, I told the Young Prince that I had been talking to another lady at church about how I wish that he could see the influence he has on the younger kids. I think he would think of himself as more of a leader if he could just see what I and others see. I often teasingly call him the Pied Piper, because kids just love him! The other lady told me that she had even seen his influence on another boy close to his age. I was sharing this with the Young Prince, and the Oldest Princess chimed in about how he had influenced this other young man. The Young Prince was surprised, because he had no idea. We talked about how even when we don't realize it, that people are looking up to us, and that we need to be careful to be the example that Christ would want us to be. The Young Prince seemed to genuinely listen and soak in what I was saying.
We all pitched in to fold some clothes and do some dishes and just generally straighten up around the house a little. We have been running like crazy and have let a few things go that needed to be tended to. The Oldest Princess painted my toenails for me. She is awesome!
Then we all headed upstairs for bed. About one o'clock in the morning, the Youngest Princess came into our room to let us know that the air vent was leaking, and that there was a puddle on the bathroom floor. My Prince checked it out, and it was where the overflow of the air conditioner had backed up. So we spent the next hour taking care of that. The Young Prince got out of bed and helped too. The Youngest Princess thought it was an adventure, and wanted to help as well as ask a million questions. My Prince and the Young Prince did a great job of working together and fixing the problem quickly and efficiently so that we could all get back to sleep. I was very proud of them both. They both had a great attitude even though they had been awakened in the middle of the night in order to fix a problem. The Youngest Princess was a little anxious about waking us up for it but we assured her that she had definitely done the right thing. My Prince took a shower (because he had been up in the attic and was all nasty) and we all finally got back to sleep and some much needed rest.
Until I blog again...
No comments:
Post a Comment